CBN intervenes with $ 279.13m, CNY 46.92m in Retail SMIS
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again made interventions of $279.13 million and CNY 46.92 in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) of the Foreign Exchange(forex) market
Figures of the sales consummated on Friday, February 8, 2019 revealed that the sum of $279,128,518.66 was injected to meet requests of customers in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors of the economy.
The Bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor also confirmed that the sum of CNY46,924,114.04 was for payment of Renminbi-denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture as well as raw materials.
Friday’s transaction was in addition to the $210 million injected into the Wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Invisibles segments of the market on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.
While expressing the satisfaction of the Bank’s management at the stability in the different segments of the foreign exchange market, Okorafor attributed the level of stability to the Bank’s transparency in foreign exchange transactions.
With the exchange rates closing at N358/$1 on Friday, February 8, 2019, Mr. Okorafor, expressed confidence that the Naira will continue to enjoy stability, given the periodic interventions of the Bank in the inter-bank segment.
Similar intervention was also experienced at the beginning of the year, Following its maiden Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, January 25, 2019, injected the sum of $289.76million into the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY38.70million in the spot and short-tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign market.
The Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the figures, noting that the dollar-denominated interventions were for transactions in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.
On the spot and short-tenored sales in Chinese Yuan, he said they were similarly for payment of Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture and raw materials based on bids received from authorized dealers.
While reiterating the Bank’s support to the inter-bank foreign exchange market, he disclosed that the Bank’s management was pleased with the level of stability at both the Bureau-de-Change (BDC) and the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market.
